Hong Kong - Preparing for the 2007 Escapades!

2007 will unquestionably the most exciting year of my life! After weeks of planning I can finally confirm my routing. Starting on March 12th, I'm flying from Hong Kong to Dubai (United Arab Emirates). Based in Dubai, I'll do side trips to Yemen, Oman and Iran. I am fortunate enough to have received approval of my Iran visa which was a long and expensive ordeal with the Iranian Consulate (Hong Kong) and my agent in Tehran (Iran) as well as the MFA in Tehran. Next comes Jordan (Petra, Wadi Rum, Dead Sea), Syria (Palmyra), Lebanon, and Turkey (Goreme and Istanbul). From Istanbul I'll fly over to Albania and then up along the Adriatic sea through Montenegro, Croatia (Dovrovnik to Split by boat), Bosnia & Hercegovina (Mostar and Sarajevo), Serbia (Belgrade) and again Croatia (Zagreb). From here to Slovenia (Ljubljana), Hungary (Budapest), Ukraine (Lviv and Kiev), Moldova (Chisinau), Poland (Krakow, Warsaw), Lithuania (Vilnius), Belarus (Minsk, Brest), Latvia (Riga). From here I fly down to near the Caspian Sea to Georgia (Tblisi), Azerbaijan (Baku) and Armenia (Yerevan). AirArabia takes me from here back to Dubai and Thai Airways will then, God-willing, deliver me safely back to home base in Hong Kong

Wow, will I be exhausted and filled with tons of images and memories! I look forward most to Iran (16 days), Yemen (7 days), Jordan (11 days) and Syria (14 days). Oh...and Belarus (7 days) and Moldova (7) both which apparently have not changed a bit since Lenin was still alive! I think one of my most amazing experiences will be spending a few days in the desert around Wadi Rum (Jordan) doing camel riding and sleeping with the bedouin (truly nomadic people of the desert) in their beit ash-shaar (black goat-hair tents). Near Göreme in the south west of Turkey I'll explore the underground cities dating from the 9th century - complete with monasteries, churches, living quarters, stables - all deep underground.

Wish me luck! This is going to be the most challenging trip of my life. I should be safe everywhere. I'm a savvy traveler (at least I survived 40 countries over the past 2 years) and will walk cat-foot where necessary. Iran is as safe as it gets - as long as George Bush does not invade all will be fine.

None of the 24 countries I'll cover will have many English speakers. Eight countries have Russian as a major language - so right now I am brushing up on my Russian.

I'll report back on the road, starting March 12th, 2007.
Добрый День (goodbye in Russian)